To expect yourself (and your creativity) to be in a state of creative overflow and inspiration 24/7 is simply not realistic! The creative cycle doesn’t work that way, and periods of feeling uninspired or stuck are 100% totally normal… creativity isn’t linear! It’s cyclical. But we live in a society that is riddled with pressure to continually build, create, and produce – especially if you are a creative entrepreneur or small business owner. What if, instead of seeing stuckness or a lack of inspiration as a flaw, you saw it as a valuable ‘signal’ or piece of information?
In this article, we’re unpacking how to make creativity feel easy again and the actual tools that you can use to get unstuck and back into the cycle of creativity.
Why Creativity May Be Feeling Hard
Sometimes, a lack of inspiration is a sign that you’re working beyond your natural energy capacity. Many of us aren’t actually designed to be go, go, go all the time. According to my favourite self-awareness tool, Human Design, many of us aren’t meant to work this way! When we bypass the rhythm we’re meant to follow and instead work from what we expect to do and create, we are out of alignment. Embracing your human design type is the most effective way to live with greater ease and alignment, especially as a creative.
Human design totally new to you? Start here!
For Manifestors, Projectors, and Reflectors in human design, conditioning has likely taught you to ‘push through’ periods of exhaustion and stuckness, leading you to think that there’s ‘something wrong with you’ if you cannot ‘keep up’ with others around you. You were never meant to.
For most people, feeling stuck or creatively blocked often makes them think they need to be putting more effort into it, which isn’t always the case. Let’s break this down with an example. For a Manifestor in human design, the best way to work is to embrace your creative/ rest cycle, where you allow yourself to create without limits when you’re feeling really lit up and inspired, before you follow that up with rest (for as long as you need until you feel that creative spark again). Following this unique rhythm is deeply aligned with you, but it wouldn’t necessarily be the case for a Generator, for example.
Our individual workflows should not be one-size-fits-all. Human Design confirms this.
Let’s now look at some tools that can help you get ‘unstuck’ when you’re feeling disconnected from your creativity.
Unstuck Tool #1: Somatic Reset
When you’re feeling uninspired or stuck in your creative mind, getting out of it and back into your body is one of the simplest, most effective ways to get unstuck.
Somatic resets can include:
- Going for a walk
- Shaking it out (literally standing up and shaking out your arms and legs)
- Dancing to your favourite music
- Practicing simple breathwork or meditative techniques
- Getting into nature
- Taking a nice long shower or bath
When you get out of your head and back into your body, you can access the immense guidance and wisdom within it.
From a human design lens, none of us is meant to make decisions from the mind. Getting back into your body allows you to connect with your own aligned decision-making: your authority.
Unstuck Tool #2: Pattern Interrupt
A pattern interrupt is another fantastic way to get back into your creative flow, and it’s simply about stopping what you’re doing and shifting to something totally different. This could be reorganizing your desk, cleaning your house, making a collage, junk journaling – whatever makes you take the pressure out of your head and allows you to break the mental loop. By allowing yourself to jump into something more playful and tactile, you’ll get out of your head and into your body so that you can hear your creative soul again.
Unstuck Tool #3: Energy Recalibration
As I mentioned above, tapping into your human design type is a great way to calibrate your energy. Each type has what is called a ‘not self theme,’ which is like a red light on your internal ‘dashboard’ to alert you to when you’re living out of alignment with the way you’re meant to live. When I recognize my not-self theme of Bitterness (as a Projector), it’s a highly valuable insight because it signals I should step back and realign with my way of being.
The Not Self Themes For Each Human Design Type:
- Manifestor = Anger
- Generator or Mani-Gen = Frustration
- Projector = Bitterness
- Reflector = Disappointment
Unstuck Tool #4: Creative Boundaries
Boundaries are an essential personal development skill in many areas of our lives. But we don’t often think of turning this practice of creating intentional boundaries into our creative practice. If you’re feeling stuck or uninspired, remove pressure instead of adding tasks – practice saying no to adding more until you’ve received the clarity on your own creative practice.
Create From Your Real Energy
Creativity flows most easily when you’re in harmony with your natural energetic capacity, rather than fighting or bypassing it. Explore your human design chart with a 1-1 reading or begin with this free guidebook.
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